Meta Lays Off 11K Employees Due to Low Revenue

Meta is laying off more than 11,000 workers (13% of total staff), CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees on Wednesday.

“Today I’m sharing some of the most difficult changes we’ve made in Meta’s history,” Zuckerberg said in a letter to staff.

The mass layoffs, the first in Meta's 18-year history, follow Twitter's decision to lay off ‘thousands’ of employees last week.

Zuckerberg pointed out that he had anticipated rapid growth even after the COVID-19 pandemic ended.

“Unfortunately, this did not play out the way I expected,” he said in his letter. "I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that.”

The CEO elaborated: “Not only has online commerce returned to prior trends, but the macroeconomic downturn, increased competition, and ads signal loss have caused our revenue to be much lower than I’d expected."

In the third quarter (Q3) of 2022, the tech giant reported net profits worth $4.4 billion, a 52% year-on-year (YoY) plunge. Meta’s stock price took a major hit, falling by 25% in one day.